There are a few scenes between Dean and Allie in Off Campus that get to me like their fireside chat in “The Breakway,” the chess game at Thanksgiving, the look Dean has on his face in the photo booth once Allie leaves, the conversations—plural—with Beau, and naturally, the final few seconds where he tells her he didn’t complete the assignment. And every time I rewatch that scene, there’s something really fascinating about how subtly excited Dean is to tell her that he hasn’t slept with someone.
Jill says it best in her scene breakdown when she notes that “And the thing is, Allie may not realize it yet, but this comment alone is enough to prove that it’s Dean who will become ‘her people.’ He inherently understands what she’s all about within the span of one single conversation.” We get the same level of recognition here when Dean first tells Allie that he fully understands how much she loves love, noting that he sees why her desire for a romantic relationship is so important for her. Despite the fact that she’s trying to fight it because of everything that Sean said about how she can’t be alone, Dean understands that it’s not out of loneliness or desperation, but rather a real want to love and be loved.
And for the most part, Dean Di Laurentis doesn’t really know the magnitude of that kind of love yet. He doesn’t even get what’s happening to him, and why he can’t hook up with anyone else until Beau points out that it’s because he likes Allie. His feelings for her are still fresh, but their gravity is undeniable in this moment. The way he fans his fingers wide over her hip right in front of everyone isn’t Dean being the giant flirt he is: it’s a man taking a single second to hold on to the girl he can’t get enough of. I keep wondering if he realizes what he’s doing and just how desperate he’s become to steal moments of her time and pocket them for safekeeping.
It’s a fleeting second we could’ve certainly gone without, and despite how hot it is, its inclusion feels significant to show us that the physical and emotional have now fused together for Dean.
But more than anything, it’s the joy on his face when he tells her that he didn’t complete the assignment. The confidence with which he replies to her why with, “Because I like you. I like us,” is the most honest Dean has ever been with a woman, and Stephan Kayln does such a remarkable job of ensuring that his tone is sincere. The visible growth that we can see in this brief scene is wild to think about when we consider the man we meet in the first episode.
The devastation on his face when Allie says she did is a clear sign of just how much he cares about her, making every minute of this moment more agonizing. And the thing with Allie that’s so riveting is because we still don’t know whether she would’ve hooked up with Hunter if Dean hadn’t called at the exact second when Hunter was running in front of her. (That’s something I really hope we’ll find out about in Season 2!)
I think we all wonder about Dean’s character arc, given everything that happens in Elle Kennedy’s The Score when he and Allie get together, then Beau dies. The show’s already making matters ten times more heartbreaking with the spin and Hunter, and simultaneously, Beau’s closeness to Allie. There are layers to him in the show, courtesy of Khobe Clarke’s performance, that we don’t get to see in the book, which will make everything hit even harder when Dean spirals.
Still, it’s incredible how raw everything currently is for both of them. They don’t realize it yet, but they’re cracked wide open in ways that they’ve never been before, and when they start finding their way back to each other, Dean’s confession in this moment is going to hit even harder.
What are your thoughts on Dean and Allie’s last conversation in the Off Campus Season 1 finale? Let us know in the comments below.
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